John P. Burgess, professor of systematic theology at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, offers a very helpful introduction to the life and theology of Pavel Florensky, who was one of the most influential and controversial Russian Orthodox writers of the twentieth century.  Combining a deep respect for the Eastern Orthodox tradition with an interest in German idealism and modern science, Florensky proposed a new theological synthesis informed by his personal struggles.

Burgess begins with a review of the life and personal challenges of Florensky, which are integral to understanding his theology. Born in what today is Azerbaijan in 1882, the young Florensky had a Russian father and an Armenian mother who did not practice any religious tradition. Nonetheless, he had experiences of preternatural power manifesting the mystery of the world from the time he was young.  He studied modern science, Orthodox theology, Symbolist poetry, as well as Greek and German philosophy.  After a time of dissolute living, he went through a religious conversion, came to see all of nature as symbolic and revelatory of God, and dedicated his life to serving God in the Russian Orthodox Church.  In 1912 he became a co-worker and friend of Sergei Bulgakov, who would be very influential on his development. After the Russian Revolution, Florensky worked as a scientist serving the Soviet Union; but he was arrested, accused of supporting a counterrevolutionary group of monarchists, and sentenced to Stalin’s Gulag, where he was executed in 1937.  Many of his theological writings, such as Iconostasis, were not published until years after his death.
Burgess discusses how Florensky contrasted the scientific way of knowing informed by the philosophy of Immanuel Kant, which analyses phenomena into their constituent parts, and the intuitive, symbolic way of knowing familiar to children that appreciates the forms of this world as wholes that cannot be divided or reduced to other realities.  Florensky valued the latter form of knowing for its appreciation of the interconnectedness of all realities, which overcomes the fragmentation of much of modern life. 

Through a personal experience of the love of Christ for him, Florensky came to view Christ as the human-divine power at the heart of all reality who is the fulfillment of all religious aspirations.  Burgess proposes Florensky’s vision of God’s light shining through the realities of this world as worthy of the attention of all readers.  He also praises Florensky’s attention to ritual and cultic activity and his challenge to scientism.  Burgess appreciates Florensky’s insistence on the importance of ontological truth in the process of receiving and reflecting the divine glory.

Nonetheless, Burgess acknowledges a number of limitations in Florensky’s writings.  John Meyendorff and others critiqued Florensky for neglecting the biblical narratives of salvation history, including the scriptural portraits of Jesus Christ ministering to people and dying on the cross.  Others have criticized Florensky for not clearly teaching creation ex nihilo or the fall and redemption of humankind in history. Nicolas Berdyaev accused Florensky of substituting the cosmic Sophia for the living person of Jesus Christ. Georges Florovsky thought that Florensky was overly influenced by modern Western philosophy at the expense of his patristic, Orthodox roots.

Florensky regularly caricatured Catholics, Protestants, and followers of other religions, though on occasion he hoped for a reconciliation of Catholics and Orthodox Christians. Of particular concern, Florensky endorsed the anti-Semitic heritage of Russian nationalism, accusing Jews of the age-old blood libel and of allying themselves with the Antichrist.  Florensky accepted the traditional teaching of supersessionism, though Burgess points out that after 1915, Florensky wrote relatively little about Jews, Judaism, or Israel.  However one assess the contributions and weaknesses of Florensky, Burgess has made a major contribution by introducing this distinctive author to a wider circle of readers.